Veteran support
Michelle is a retired veteran and served in the U.S. Air Force for six years. Thom is a retired U.S. Secret Service agent and worked in weapon handling.
The owners said they make an effort to support, hire and buy from veterans and veteran-owned businesses. The coffee from the on-site 2A Cafe is purchased from a veteran-owned company, and a substantial amount of the Saddle River Range staff is retired veterans, the owners said.
“It is our goal that we search for veterans and former law enforcement officers,” Thom said. “Not only do we look for and have veterans [as employees], but most of them are disabled veterans.”
Additional services
The owners said since they are both educated in gun operation and safety, they wanted to bring the education and hobby to the community. The range has 24 shooting lanes and over 120 guns available to rent, such as handguns, pistols, exotic guns, suppressed guns and fully automatic machine guns.
The range offers a variety of training courses ranging from classes for people who have never picked up a gun before to advanced defensive training classes.
“For someone who comes into a gun shop for the first time, it can be intimidating,” Thom said. “We’re very friendly about it. If someone says they’ve never handled a gun before, we start from the beginning.”
Saddle River Range has an indoor and outdoor archery bay, and the facility offers archery training and equipment rentals and purchases. In addition, the range has an activity called “archery assault” in which parties can shoot each other with foam-tipped arrows.
Saddle River Range frequently has events, such as a two-for-one date night special. Saddle River Range also has an event-planning team that caters to a variety of parties and team-building experiences. In addition, the range also has a supervised children’s area.The owners said the shop sells goods such as apparel and accessories. In addition, Saddle River Range offers a private gun club that includes private entry to an area with six lanes, a conference room, a bar, a smoking area and televisions.
Expansion
Saddle River Range is working on expanding event services and opportunities. Earlier in 2021, the owners put in an outdoor archery range for long-range shooting.
The owners also opened Saddle River Spring on Spring Cypress Road this summer. They said the new range is in the process of upgrades to provide similar services as Saddle River Range.
“It’s a destination, not just a place to come shoot,” Thom said.
Training courses
Saddle River Range offers a variety of forms of weapons training:
- Private instruction
- Hunter education
- Youth firearm
- Essential handgun
- Handgun fundamentals
- National Shooting Sports Foundation First Shots
- Defensive handgun
- License-to-carry preparation
- Ladies’ shooting
- Victim proofing
- Hunter safety
- Archery instruction
Saddle River Range
4280 FM 1488, Conroe
936-271-2620
www.saddleriverrange.com
Hours: Mon.-Thu. 10 a.m.-7 p.m., Fri. 10 a.m.-9 p.m., Sat. 9 a.m.-8 p.m., Sun. 10 a.m.-6 p.m.
